Serious Question about OL talent in round 2.

[Burma]

(04-24-2021, 11:11 PM)Whatever Wrote: The Chiefs are successful because they drafted well for years and that gives them the flexibility to be aggressive and go after guys that they feel can can make their team better, whether that's filling a gaping hole in their lineup(Brown) or fortifying a strength(Mahomes when they already had Smith).  I'll guarantee you if KC was heading into the season with Higgins, Boyd, Tate, and Thomas as their Top 4 WR's, they'd go to similar extremes.

This is where it get's interesting and goes beyond just drafting but more into team building. Yes, the Chiefs draft well, as of the 2018 (most recent info i found when looking a month or so ago), the Chiefs had the the highest percentage of drafted players still in the NFL since 2015, BUT they had the 5th fewest percentage of drafted players still on their team with 53% still on their roster (the Bengals had 5th most with 76.3%).

So they are the best in the league at finding players who can play, but are not afraid to move on from them if an upgrade is available or they don't fit what they want to do.  They are outstanding at seeing holes and fixing them.  They just do things differently and it pays.  There is no way they would have gone 6 years in a row with a huge hole at RT like the Bengals. They are aggressive, but smart, in player acquisition. Not just in the draft, but also free agency, and trades. 

Look at how they handled the pass rush situation that developed in the 2019 off season. They lost 2 of their 4 leading sackers (Dee Ford traded, Justin Huston released) due to impending agency and contract demands. They went out and signed Alex Oakafor and then traded a CB for Emmanuel Ogbah, and finally traded their 2019 1st, 3rd, and 2020 2nd for Frank Clark.  They could have simply sat on their first 2 pickups and grabbed another WR for Mahomes like N'keal Harry or Deebo Samuel (the next 2 WR that were drafted) given the issues Tyreek Hill was having, Sammy Watkins not emerging, and Dwayne Bowe underperforming. But they didn't because they knew their pass rush was still weak so they got aggressive and dealt for Frank Clark.  


They just operate at a whole different level.